Irvine CubeSat STEM Program

Note: As of the school year of 2022, the Irvine CubeSat STEM Program has been shut down. The Irvine Public School Foundation (IPSF) has reallocated the CubeSat funding elsewhere and Brent Freeze has left the project to pursue other endeavors. This change could have resulted from the lack of productivity during the COVID-19 pandemic and the loss of talented students. It is rumored that the program could return during the 2023 school year.

Irvine CubeSat STEM Program (ICSP) is a joint educational endeavor to teach, train and inspire the next generation of STEM professionals. ICSP involves students from six high schools from Irvine, California, and its main objective is to assemble, test, and launch a CubeSat into low Earth orbit.

Mission Patch for IRVINE01

ICSP's initial concepts were conceived by Brent Freeze when he was working with Arnold O. Beckman High School physics teacher Paul Lewanski on a weather balloon project; Freeze later founded the program with Kain Sosa.

Overview

The Irvine CubeSat STEM Program was created in 2015 by Brent Freeze and Kain Sosa. Freeze took inspiration from his work alongside Arnold O. Beckman High School physics teacher Paul Lewanski on a weather balloon project.[1]

Two years after the weather balloon project, Freeze contacted Lewanski about the idea of a CubeSat program. Beckman High School supported the program fully, and became the first ICSP team, Beckman Avionics. Following Beckman High School, Freeze and Sosa interviewed teachers at other high schools in Irvine, and the other subteams were created based on each schools' resources and teacher skill sets.

The Irvine CubeSat STEM Program aims to inspire the next generation of innovative thinkers, creators, programmers, and explorers.[2] ICSP is composed of six public high schools from the Tustin [3] and Irvine[4] School Districts: Arnold O. Beckman High School;[5] Irvine High School;[6] Northwood High School (Irvine, California);[7] Portola High School;[8] University High School (Irvine, California);[9] and Woodbridge High School (Irvine, California).[10] Each school is given a specific role for the CubeSat missions, such as communications, propulsion, or power.

High school Lead for team:
Arnold O. Beckman High School Avionics Archived 2017-11-15 at the Wayback Machine
Irvine High School Propulsion
Northwood High School Power
Portola High School BioTech
University High School Prime
Woodbridge High School Communications

Team members for the program's inaugural mission, IRVINE01, were selected in 2016.[11] Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems provided engineering support and served as ICSP's integration partner.[12] The Ecuadorian Civilian Space Agency also provided support as well as the deployable solar arrays, the batteries and the radiation shielding panels.[13][14]

ICSP's first nano-satellite, IRVINE01, was launched on November 10, 2018, on a Rocket Lab Electron entitled "It's Business Time". ICSP's second nanosatellite, IRVINE02, was launched on December 3, 2018, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 as part of the Spaceflight Industries' rideshare mission, SSO-A Smallsat Express.[15] The high schools have already begun work on their next CubeSat: IRVINE03.

In addition to building CubeSats, ICSP educates hosts a guest speaker series with expert insight into space and technology. To date, guest speakers included Jordi Puig-Suari (co-inventor of the CubeSat standard), Commander Ronnie Nader [16] (from the Ecuadorian Civilian Space Agency), Michael Minovitch (gravity assist maneuver), NASA Astronaut Mike Massimino, and Pamela Clark (Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory CubeSat Development Lab[17]).

The Irvine Public School Foundation (IPSF) is a sponsor of ICSP, providing over $150,000 in funding annually with the support of corporate sponsors: FivePoint, Ingersoll-Rand/Trane, Google, Cisco Systems, Resilient, Microsemi, and the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation .[18][19]

Satellites

IRVINE01
Main article: IRVINE01

IRVINE01 is an educational 1U CubeSat mission that gives high school students the experience of building, testing, and controlling a nano-satellite to develop interest and talent in the science and engineering fields.[20][21][22][23][24] The mission features a camera, which will be used to take pictures of nearby celestial objects, as well as the first in orbital ion electrospray thruster developed by Accion Systems. Other technology aboard include deployable solar arrays and magnetorquers, both supplied by the Ecuadorian Space Agency.

IRVINE01 was launched from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on November 11, 2018, as part of an Electron rocket mission operated by Rocket Lab entitled It's Business Time.[25][26]

IRVINE02
Main article: IRVINE02

ICSP's second and third CubeSats have been selected by NASA to participate in NASA's Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa).[27][28] IRVINE02 features an ion electrospray thruster, the second of Accion Systems thrusters to reach orbit. Beyond the thruster, IRVINE02 utilizes magnetorquers, deployable solar arrays, a GPS unit, and a laser to transmit pictures and data back to Earth.[29] It is one of the smallest CubeSats with an onboard electric propulsion system.

IRVINE02 launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base on December 3, 2018, as part of NASA's ELaNa educational program[30] aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 alongside 64 other spacecraft on the mission SSO-A: Smallsat Express.[31]

IRVINE03

On March 2, 2018, NASA selected IRVINE03[32] to take part in NASA's ninth round of NASA CubeSat candidates.[33] IRVINE03 will include a technology demonstration of an X-ray Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT) sensor and electrospray thrusters. IRVINE 03 was expected to launch in mid 2020, but the launch was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The launch is further delayed due to leadership problems.

References
  1. "Irvine CubeSat Program". irvinecubesat. Archived from the original on 2017-11-14. Retrieved 2017-11-13.
  2. "Irvine's Cubesat". Irvine Inspired. Archived from the original on 2017-12-01. Retrieved 2017-11-21.
  3. "Home - Tustin Unified School District". www.tustin.k12.ca.us. Retrieved 2017-11-13.
  4. "IUSD.org". IUSD.org. Retrieved 2017-11-13.
  5. "Beckman High School - Tustin Unified School District". www.tustin.k12.ca.us. Retrieved 2017-11-13.
  6. "Irvine High School". www.irvinehigh.org. Retrieved 2017-11-13.
  7. "Northwood HS". Northwood HS. Retrieved 2017-11-13.
  8. "Portola High School". web.iusd.org. Retrieved 2017-11-13.
  9. "Home - University High School, Irvine". www.universityhigh.org. Retrieved 2017-11-13.
  10. "Woodbridge High School". woodbridgehigh.org. Retrieved 2017-11-13.
  11. "Irvine CubeSat - IPSF". IPSF. Retrieved 2017-11-13.
  12. Chan, Alex (2017-08-10). "Irvine students enter final phase of their mission to launch a satellite". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2017-11-21.
  13. "Irvine 01 - Gunter's Space Page | Science and Technology". space.skyrocket.de. Retrieved 2018-01-02.
  14. "ECUADORIAN SPACE AGENCY DELIVERS ITS SPACE TECHNOLOGY IN USA | Science and Technology". exa.ec. Retrieved 2018-01-04.
  15. "SSO-A". Spaceflight. Retrieved 2019-01-03.
  16. ".:Ronnie Nader Bello:. the First Ecuadorian Astronaut". exa.ec. Retrieved 2018-05-31.
  17. "Cubesat Development Lab | Science and Technology". scienceandtechnology.jpl.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2017-11-21.
  18. webdesign, MaryHiggins. "Support to our local community - $25,000 Gift to Irvine Public Schools Foundation for the Irvine CubeSat Program". www.beckman-foundation.org. Archived from the original on 2017-12-01. Retrieved 2017-11-21.
  19. "IRVINE01 2017 Update" (PDF).
  20. Loff, Sarah (2015-07-22). "CubeSats Overview". NASA. Retrieved 2017-11-15.
  21. "About CubeSats - CubeSatShop.com". CubeSatShop.com. Retrieved 2017-11-15.
  22. "Irvine CubeSat STEM Program". irvinecubesat. Retrieved 2017-11-13.
  23. "Irvine high school students ready their mini satellite for launch into orbit". Orange County Register. 2017-07-27. Retrieved 2017-11-13.
  24. "Students Prepare to Launch Satellite They Built Into Space". NBC Southern California. Retrieved 2017-11-13.
  25. "Rocket Lab reaches orbit again, deploys more satellites". www.rocketlabusa.com. 2018-11-11. Retrieved 2018-11-11.
  26. Ashlee Vance. Rocket Launch in New Zealand Brings Quick, Cheap Space Access Bloomberg L.P.
  27. Heiney, Anna (2015-04-13). "About ELaNa". NASA. Retrieved 2017-11-21.
  28. Jackson, Shanessa (2017-02-17). "NASA Announces Eighth Class of Candidates for Launch of CubeSat Space". NASA. Retrieved 2018-04-30.
  29. "Second year of Irvine's high school satellite launch program gets help from NASA". Orange County Register. 2017-09-12. Retrieved 2017-11-13.
  30. Jackson, Shanessa (2016-07-03). "Upcoming ELaNa CubeSat Launches". NASA. Retrieved 2018-08-07.
  31. "Spaceflight Prepares Historic Launch of More Than 70 Spacecraft Aboard SpaceX Falcon 9 - Spaceflight". Spaceflight. 2018-08-06. Retrieved 2018-08-07.
  32. "Irvine 03". space.skyrocket.de. Retrieved 2018-04-30.
  33. Jackson, Shanessa (2018-02-20). "NASA Announces Ninth Round of Candidates for CubeSat Space Missions". NASA. Retrieved 2018-04-30.
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